South Passage sails Moreton Bay in style
This 100ft gaff-rigged schooner is one of the few tall ships to ply Queensland waters.
“Heave!” The cry goes up. Above me, the heavy sails of a tall ship creep up the mast as all eyes turn to watch their progress against a cloudless sky above Moreton Bay.
My daughter’s arms, stronger than mine, are among those hoisting the sails on the 100ft gaff-rigged schooner South Passage, one of the few tall ships to ply Queensland waters. I’m content to be a passive passenger when sailing Moreton Bay, although the chance to help out is always there.
Embarking from the Brisbane bayside suburb of Manly, we slip into the rhythm of the sea, eyes peeled for the dolphins, turtles and dugongs that cruise these waters.
The elegant South Passage, named for the channel between Moreton and North Stradbroke islands, is owned and operated by the not-for-profit Sail Training Association of Queensland. Its core business centres on sailing adventures for students, but COVID-19 meant a four-month hiatus that sorely impacted its operating costs.
“We needed to find a way to keep operating and we decided that increasing our day-sailing program was the best way to do that,” says South Passage president Mark Browne, as we tack and gybe through the waves.
New restrictions are evident as we step aboard: temperatures are taken on the jetty, and we’re assigned a deck area to sit in until departure (but can move around later). Seating is marked to maintain social distancing, and during the voyage, railings are wiped down regularly.
Designed by naval architect Rick James, the schooner made its maiden voyage in 1993, with volunteer crews training more than 40,000 teenage sailors over the years. In contrast, passengers on the day we set out are a mix of ages and there’s no pressure, only gentle encouragement, to put hands to ropes. Sailing Moreton Bay has never been better.
After a couple of hours, we anchor off the southern side of Peel Island, one of two destinations the day trips head for (the other is near the high sand dunes on Moreton Island). It’s a brilliant sunny day and Brisbane boaties are out in force, with about 60 vessels anchored in Horseshoe Bay, part of Moreton Bay Marine Park. Swimming ashore isn’t an option for us, due to available time, but we can still have a dip, with younger passengers leaping from the deck into the deep water. For the less agile or fragile, a ladder enables a more decorous entry to the briny.
Peel Island is a small, heritage-listed island now designated Teerk Roo Ra National Park and best known for its past life as a leper colony. The Quandamooka people call it Teerk Roo Ra, the place of many shells, and it was once an important place for ceremony.
Used as a quarantine station in the mid-19th century, it was later an asylum for vagrants and then a sisal farm for rope-making. From 1907 to 1959, hundreds of people suffering from leprosy were sent here and its status as the only multi-racial lazaret, or isolation hospital, in Australia has accorded it heritage status. Ironically, after the end of its days as a leper colony, it was discovered that the strain of leprosy contained here was not contagious.
All this is far from the minds of those soaking up the sun and the sea. From the water, I watch young passengers attempting, without success, to “kiss the mermaid”, scaling the bow of the ship to reach the golden figurehead. There is much laughter, and the world of work and worry over pandemics seems far away. Evidently, it's a great trip to embark on with friends and family and shows the best of what Moreton Bay has to offer.
We sail around the eastern side of Peel Island and head back to Brisbane. Anyone who cares to can take a turn at the wheel, under the watchful eye of skipper Phill Woodgate, steering course for the towering coastal pine trees of Manly. After six hours sailing Moreton Bay, we are practically sailors.
In the know
South Passage conducts six-hour sailings on Moreton Bay from $95 a person.
This story was originally published in January 2021 and has since been updated.
